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Thanks for the advice, but I showed the drop in liners to my husband and he was all for the easy route. I ordered one from foster and smith for $25. Not too bad. I saw that there are liners that have a spillway too which will be perfect for the other barrel. Just need to find one somewhere to buy one of those before we redo the pond filter this winter.

08-02-2012 02:08 PM

ThinkTank

Fill it with water before you attach and trim the liner to make sure all of it is fully against the inside of the tub and no new wrinkles form.

08-02-2012 02:03 PM

Diana

Well, being very careful with folding it just right you can keep regular pond liner neat, but it is indeed a lot of folding. You can leave the liner long enough so that when you have folded it as neatly as possible there is enough to fold over the edge, then nail it on the outside. Trim the end so it is even all the way around. Then use plants to hide the edge.

08-01-2012 10:16 PM

rocksmom

I just picked two of the real wooden ones up today at Lowes for $30 each. One is going to house the filter media for our pond we already have and I want to make a little dirted pond out of the other one. Question though. I know they make preformed drop in liners, but from what I see online they cost more than the barrels did. What's the best way to line them with a regular liner? I imagine you'd end with with a lot of wrinkles and a not very pretty looking edge.

08-01-2012 12:27 AM

Diana

Definitely water Hyacinth in the upper pic. Some sort of iris or rush-like thing (grassy looking vertical leaves) I would try to use variegated Iris. Neatest, least invasive.
Background is some fern. Australian Tree Fern has fronds like that, but so do many other ferns. To the right/middle looks like Agapanthus, thick strap shaped leaves.

2nd pic: Hanging over the edge is Myriophyllum. Try to find a dwarf. The most common is a rampant weed in a setting like this; even the dwarf will need trimming to stay small enough.
Some sort of water lily floating leaves. There are some dwarf varieties to look for in a planter this small.
Fine spiky thing might be any of the smaller rush/sedge/papyrus sort of grassy thing, or a very fine leafed Iris.

In post 12 I think I see Bacopa (far right) in a pot with a low growing moss. You can grow plants in pots by turning one pot upside down in the barrel and sitting the planted pot on top of it. You could even cut a hole in the bottom pot to make a cave for the fish.
Background in pic in post 12 is Hosta (green and white leaves). I am not sure of the plant to the left, but Stachys would work like that, low growing, large leaf.

07-31-2012 07:41 PM

Colorful

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwilso20

Could anyone identify the plants in these? I'm trying to come up with a planting list for a barrel.

there's water hyacinth in the first picture. Not sure about the other plants/

03-24-2012 03:11 AM

DogFish

Arron - It's kind of amazing how well fish & invests do when put out side and left alone. When I had my concrete pond in the late 80's we had a month plus of high 90's & 100s here in the Chicago area. I moved my african cichlids & angel fish out into the 300gl pond. At the end of summer I had more fry than I new what to do with. I put them all in a 20l and it took several weeks to figure out exactly who was who.

The most interesting was the angelfish jumping out of the water to get mosquitos.

03-24-2012 02:52 AM

AaronT

I found one at the orange box once for about $30.00.
Here it was at the beginning of the season. I put cherry shrimp in it one year and pulled out at least 500 of them.

03-24-2012 02:25 AM

DogFish

I went back and bought one. The car smelled like whiskey all the way home.

I'm not going to use a liner. I've got it full now. I'll dump it in a few days and repeat a few times. My temps won't be consistent enough for a few more wks.

I keep my grow out plants in clay pots in 2OL tanks. I'm just going to move the clay pots into the barrel starting with plants that tolerate cooler water 1st. As the weather gets warmer they can be swapped out with warmer water plants and finally fish.

The other nice thing about the pots is I can adjust water depth as needed. Some of the younger crypts will be closer to the surface until they get larger.

03-18-2012 02:20 AM

nwilso20

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogFish

I was at Home Depot Friday saw them for $29

Ya, I just left there, They have the real wood ones for $29, and the fiberglass ones were marked down to $19.

When I saw them I remembered this thread! Now I need to figure out a planting list so I can get started on one.

I was thinking about just using black plastic to line the barrel, then using miracle grow potting soil with a gravel cap.

Now I just need to figure out the plants!

03-18-2012 01:54 AM

DogFish

I was at Home Depot Friday saw them for $29

03-18-2012 01:44 AM

nwilso20

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenxes

Could anyone identify the plants in these? I'm trying to come up with a planting list for a barrel.

03-10-2012 12:39 PM

menoseloso

thats true but i think he has a budget and the two part epoxy will take him over budget aside from the pond/tank

03-10-2012 02:46 AM

moonshinetheslacker

You have a couple options, both somewhat DIY related. You could pick up a fiberglass barrel from lowes, and patch the hole. They probably have some sort of old school sink plug that will fit the hole (think rubber bathtub plug, with a rusty chain attached, in your grandmothers claw footed tub) If they don't have a plug that will fit, you can fabricate one with a little duct tape and silcone.

If you don't want to mess with a pond liner to go into a "real" wine barrel, then you can coat the inside with waterproof two part epoxy. No tannins. Period. Just look up a how to on building a plywood aquarium. There are various how-tos on youtube for that sort of thing, that will show you the process of epoxy coating wood.

Hope this helps!

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